The Deputy Minister for Economic Development of Azerbaijan, Sevindzh Gasanova, told Russian journalists about the current challenges and problems of the Azerbaijani economy on the sidelines of official events held in the framework of the visit by representatives of the Russian media to Azerbaijan on the eve of the parliamentary elections on November 1st.
"Our economy in recent years has grown at a heightened pace. And this growth was primarily achieved due to our oil revenues, which we have been able to achieve as a result of correct, timely oil strategy. Our revenues have reduced due to the fall in oil prices. This caused a decrease in the fiscal impulse to the economy," the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza cited her as saying.
Sevindzh Gasanova, of course, noted that the decline in oil revenues could affect the growth potential in the medium term. "Firstly, we are looking for other sources of funding, we are attracting foreign investment into the country. Azerbaijan still remains quite a competitive economy and quite an interesting country for foreign investors. Due to the conditions in the country, we are in the lead for the seventh year in the ranking of competitiveness of countries, conducted by the Swiss organization World Economic Forum," Hasanova added.
The Deputy Minister drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan is the leader in the competitiveness in the former Soviet Union. For example, "this month President Ilham Aliyev signed a number of important decrees to improve the business environment, in the first place it is a decree on the limitation of inspections of entrepreneurs."
"These events, coupled with the policy of diversification of the economy, the policy of non-oil sector development, with additional non-budgetary resources, will make it easier to cope with all the consequences which affect Azerbaijan," she concluded.
